White Turquoise

Authentic White Turquoise generally comes
from Arizona and Nevada, USA. Although it is called White Turquoise,
there is a
slight tint of blue or green color from the minerals in the rock that actually
make the material test
as authentic Turquoise. For example, Sacred Buffalo (Dry Creek Turquoise)
has a very slight tint of clear blue,
Tortoise has a slight tint of green and so on.

Browse Our Selection of White Buffalo and White Turquoise
Jewelry:

The fact is, many Turquoise Mines in the U.S. have light to
white turquoise material that will test as Turquoise
(or to have the elements of Turquoise), however, it is so soft it has the hardness
of chalk, nearly "O" on the Mohs
Scale. For this reason, it is not hard enough to cut and polish into White
Turquoise cabochons that are suitable for use in quality Jewelry.

It is possible to enhance or stabilize this material to bring
it to the hardness needed to make it a viable material suitable for quality
Jewelry.
The problem is that more often then not, processing this type of material brings
out the color in the stone, and it is no longer "White Turquoise".
So, the Stabilized Turquoise is no longer white, it becomes deeper blue or green
when enhanced.

The demand for White Turquoise has come to be fairly
recently. Turquoise Miners of the past hunted for deep rich blues and greens
in
Turquoise and did not give white or light colored material any consideration.
There could be a considerable amount of what we now consider White Turquoise
in Arizona and Nevada that is hard, beautiful and of high quality, time will
tell. There is now a market for it and minors will not discard it in the future!
Most of this "White Turquoise" is actually one of two substances called
Howlite and Magnasite. The rare White Turquoise Jewelry is made with
actual White Turquoise from the Dry Creek or Sacred Buffalo mine, the
Tortoise Turquoise mine, or the Peacock Turquoise mine. On rare occasion White
Turquoise jewelry is made with Chalcociderite (a sister mineral to Turquoise)
from the Badger Mine, New Landers Mine, Tortoise Mine, Peacock Mine, Prince
Mine, Colorback Mine or one of the other Chalcociderite producing Turquoise
mines in Nevada, USA.

White Turquoise Examples

White Turquoise from the White Buffalo Mine

The most popular Stone being used in Southwest Silver Jewelry is White Buffalo.
Although they call White Buffalo Turquoise, it is actually
not. The name "White Buffalo Turquoise" was given to this rock from
the Otteson's who are very experience in mining Turquoise and have been doing
so for generations of well over 50 years. We, John and Dillon
Hartman have personally examined a specimen of White Buffalo with a seam
of mid-colored blue Turquoise running through the rock which is located in Tonopah,
Nevada. We can easily understand why the Otteson's named this material "White
Buffalo Turquoise" however they do not call it White Turquoise when
selling or talking to people and usually simply call it White Buffalo.

Several years back, Dean Otteson, the owner and miner of the Royston
Turquoise Mine had been noticing that there was a market for something white
in the Southwest Jewelry market. He went to his father Lynn Otteson, who had
been scouting and mining Turquoise in the Tonopah area for over 50 years, and
asked if he was aware of any White Turquoise in the area. Lynn Otteson
knew right where to go. He remembered the White Buffalo Turquoise that
he had seen years before. So they unearthed the rare and beautiful treasure.
There are critics and competitors who say it isn't turquoise at all. However
White Buffalo Turquoise lies in veins like turquoise.
Surrounded by in black chert a black rock similar to flint. It cuts and polishes
like turquoise, and IT HAS GEOLOGISTS baffled. So, until someone can prove differently,
we are going to call it White Turquoise!

As soon as they Mined and cut the White Buffalo Turquoise, they took
it to the market and it was a hit, people absolutely loved it. As usual, the
testing of the material did not come back for months and White Buffalo had become
so popular by that time that it's name, White Buffalo Turquoise
had become the name of this material and it was set in stone! So today, we must
call it White Turquoise or White Buffalo Turquoise in order for
consumers to know what we are talking about.

The bottom line is that this beautiful hard white Gemstone has now become the standard for White Turquoise and right or wrong it is called "White Buffalo Turquoise". It was named that by the Otteson's and in respect of their great Turquoise Mining past, we will go along with this name only because it is owned and mined by some of the most famous and historic Turquoise Minors of all times, The Otteson's. You can read more about the Otteson's and White Buffalo Turquoise on This Site.

To the left - A piece of White Turquoise from the White Buffalo mine
cut by Dillon Hartman that he personally got from the Otteson's. This is true
White Buffalo Turquoise which you can compare to. This material is hard,
takes a great polish and is definitely suited to be used in quality Jewelry.
The black matrix is called Chert, White Turquoise from the White Buffalo
Turquoise mine is found in this material, the Chert often runs in various
patterns throughout the white material. Occasionally you will find it in a spiderwebbing
pattern which is rare and more valuable.

To the right- is another piece of White Buffalo Turquoise
set in a Silver Ring. This White Turquoise stone was also cut by Dillon
Hartman and the Ring was made by John
Hartman. You can see the Chert matrix is different in configuration, this
is because this White Buffalo Turquoise was mined in a different formation in
the earth. Matrix in all Turquoise changes from the different formations it
comes out of which is one of the beauties of Turquoise from Nevada. Almost every
Nevada Turquoise Stone that you will look at will be different from another,
they may have the same characteristic, but, they do not completely match.

To the left - A ring with Sacred Buffalo Turquoise from the Dry
Creek Mine in Nevada. Dry Creek Turquoise is considered
white Turquoise by many as it runs very light powder blue to a medium
powder sky blue. It is a good hard White Turquoise that takes a great
polish.

To the right - A White Tortoise Turquoise Stone set in a lost
wax Ring. This stone has black spider webbing and a slight minty green tint
but is considered White Turquoise. Tortoise
Turquoise runs from a very light mint green white to mint greens and even
blue Spiderweb Turquoise.

To the left - A Wild Horse Stone from Arizona. Wild Horse came out shortly
after White Buffalo and was sold by many as White Turquoise. It is not
Turquoise but is another white stone that is used in Southwestern
Silver Jewelry. Wild Horse is white in color with brown to reddish brown
matrix.

To the right - A Bead Necklace with White Buffalo and Tortoise Beads. White
Buffalo Turquoise goes well with most other colors for Bead
Necklaces as well as Silver Jewelry.

LEARN MORE ABOUT WHITE TURQUOISE JEWELRY:

Fake White Turquoise

Fake White Turquoise - There is a lot of so
called "White Turquoise" on the market these days due to the
demand of the fashion industry.
There is actually very little authentic White Turquoise being used in the Jewelry
being made that is claimed to be "White Turquoise Jewelry". There
is material in Arizona and Nevada that is white or off white and will test as
Turquoise, as mentioned above, the demand for White Turquoise has just
developed recently. American Turquoise
Miners have not had the time needed to locate quality material that will test
as authentic Turquoise.

Buyer Beware! When consumer demand, or a fad,
for any product arises - manufactures scramble to produce the product as quickly
as possible to take advantage of a good financial opportunity. With the advent
of NAFTA and GATT, the global free trade acts, we have opened up our marketplace
to the world of mass production. There are money hungry industrialists that
will do anything to make a fast fortune and the Chinese, in particular, has
discovered this market. As a buyer you should understand there is a big deference
between Howlite, Magnisite, chalk and real White American Turquoise. There is
a good reason why some, so called "White Turquoise" Jewelry is cheap,
and the reason is that the so called "White Turquoise" is fake
Turquoise being made in China. Beyond this fact, if the company is selling fake
Turquoise it is questionable if there Jewelry is even made with Sterling Silver!

We hope you have enjoyed our presentation and have gained some useful knowledge
from it. We invite you to learn more about Turquoise and Turquoise
Jewelry by following the links in our Learning Center to other informational
pages that we have written on different topics related to Turquoise Jewelry.
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